Day 5 - the lull before the lull?

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 11/9/2008 (3011 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With a government that is promising not to make expensive promises, and an official opposition who only just got its plane in the air, when does the campaign get interesting?It is interesting, actually, but not because of the announcements. Here are five reasons the election has been interesting this week:1/Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was a fruit. I can say with complete surety that you wish you were doing my job that day.2/NDP Leader Jack Layton grudgingly accepted Green Party Leader Elizabeth May into the debates, but only after he suggested that debating who gets to debate is a silly waste of time. So, first you offend the voters' sense of fair play, and then you call them silly when they force you to change your mind. That'll play well in middle Canada.3/Liberal Leader Stephane Dion continues to get into trouble for not clarifying whether he would put his Green Shift carbon tax on top of provincial carbon taxes. Just like the carbon tax, the issue of harmonization is simple, Stephane. I'll give you another six words - Don't tax stuff that's already taxed.4/Both the Tories and Liberals had to let some people go this week. Tory flack Ryan Sparrow was dispatched for suggesting the father of a slain Canadian soldier was a Liberal in sheeps clothing; and Quebec Liberal candidate Simon Bedard, former open line radio host, for 18-year-old comments suggesting the way to settle native protests was to send in the army to kill them all. The Sausage Factory would like to see Sparrow and Bedard banished to a remote island in the arctic with nothing but a pack of matches and a fillet knife, and instructions that the last one standing gets a plane ride back to civilization.5/And May, well, this campaign has already exceeded her wildest expectations. Jeez, I hope she does well in the live debates or this could be the first and only Green appearance at a debate. Here are three words for you, Liz: practice, practice, practice.On to day 6....-30-

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